There are many ways in which we look upon the disaster. There are surprises at the tragedy, we look for reasons, a desire for the missing to be found, a feeling of loss and despondency; guilt and grief over the young students' lives lost, compassion for the families of the dead, anger and distrust of those responsible, and a feeling of despair over the incident. Why did it have to happen? This is the foundational question that leads to all the other misgivings about the disaster.
After the tragedy there has been all kinds of talk on the reasons. However, as we know causes are not easily uncovered. The Roman poet Virgil said: “Fortunate are those who know the causes of things” (rerum congnoscere causas). This has become the motto of not a few universities. Many specialists have written about the causes of the tragedy; however, when done individually and independently there are problems.
When we single out a certain area of concern, it is like focusing our camera on one object, the other areas become fuzzy. This is true for a tragedy like the Sewol, when we focus on one area, we ignore others. He gives us the example of blaming the captain and the crew for their thoughtlessness and incompetency, and forgetting the poor conditions in which they were required to work. When we pick those who were involved in the rescue operation and blame them for their inefficiency and incompetence, we can forget the reason for the accident in the first place. Placing the blame on the company's unreliability and the owner's irregularities, there is the possibility of not seeing the problem of the maritime service responsibility in overlooking the safety regulations and their lack of concern. When we blame the bureaucrats in the anti- calamity headquarters for their lack of responsibility, we forget the office of the president. However, we can't properly point our finger at the president. Is it not possible that the answer is spread out a little among all of them?
Another part of the picture that has to be seen is the lack of respect for life that we have seen in the other tragedies in our history. We have developed very quickly as an economically strong country, but also are infected greatly with mammonism, results at all costs, contempt for processes and procedures, enamored with speed, and seeing humans as means and not as ends. These are all ways of fostering disasters.
In conclusion, the columnist says we are all in some way involved in the tragedy of the Sewol. We all need to look at the values we give to life, and the respect that we have for life. It is required, he says, to examine what we consider important, and have a change of heart, otherwise we will have more of the same in the future.
